Weird Windoze Problem

[mrlynn]

My wife's computer runs XP Pro (SP3). In any application that uses word processing, mainly M$ Word and Thunderbird, occasionally when she attempts to insert a letter into a word, the software starts deleting the next letter. Say, adding an 's' to 'bookih' (to make 'bookish') yields 'bookis'. This bizarre behavior persists until she quits out of the program. In a Word document, if you copy the text, close the document, and open a new one, the program behaves correctly—until it happens again.

Any idea what causes this behavior, and how to prevent it from happening? It's very frustrating when it happens in the middle of a long document.

/Mr Lynn

[TheCaber]

That sounds like a QuickEdit 'feature': the Insert key will toggle between 'insert text at cursor' and 'overwrite text at cursor'; the cursor shape changes to indicate the insert mode. I think your wife's current default is 'overwrite'. Word has a user-settable option to control the desired behavior. I don't have XP at hand to verify any of this, though perhaps someone else could correct me?

[onthedownlow]

Yes, the 'insert' key or mode is enabled.

[Filliam H. Muffman]

There are lots of little tools that will change the cursor behavior. You can scan for utility names in the Processes tab of Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del). In a look at QuickEdit settings, it seems to be more for controlling editing commands between CMD/System Event windows and Application windows. If forgotten utility is not causing the problem, it might be something set in the Accessibility Options Control Panel.

[mrlynn]

Thanks. That gives me some crevices to look into when we get back on Monday. Maybe it's a keyboard shortcut that she's hitting accidentally.

/Mr Lynn